The Armorial Bearings of the Gentry of Leek

I have added a video of one of my heraldic talks onto You Tube. The talk, which is an illustrated one is of the heraldry of the gentry of Leek.

The basis of this talk is research from Miller’s “Olde Leek” and Sleigh’s “A History of the Ancient Parish of Leek”. Entries have been cross referenced with entries in Burke’s General Armory and Fox-Davies’ Armorial Families, and The British Herald; or, Cabinet of Armorial Bearings of the Nobility with the specific location of Leek mentioned.

Quotes from “Loxdale” refer to the MS of the Reverend Thomas Loxdale dated May 24th 1735 which forms much of the basis for the Sleigh's A History of the Ancient Parish of Leek; but we must bear in mind that Loxdale is not an entirely reliable source!

References to Plot refer to Dr. Plot’s "History of Staffordshire" 1686.

Sleigh’s History of Leek contains many references to the armorial bearings of Leeks gentlemen, but they are all in the form of a blazon. As a long-suffering addict, I can visualise, in my mind’s eye, each and every coat of arms described within the covers of these history books but I thought it might be fun for me - and hopefully instructional for you - to turn the written description of these arms into images (in heraldic language, to emblazon them). Most of these images have been created by me and although I don’t claim to be any kind of heraldic artist, their creation has given me many hours of pleasure.

So, if you have ever read any of these history books and wondered what that funny secret code in the footnotes actually looks like as an image, if you’re sitting comfortably, I’ll begin.